I can live without the silence, but the IQ and fast focusing are a must.

If there are any other contenders in this price range, I'd be interested in hearing about those too, but I just can't afford the Nikon right now...

I seem to remember a website (but not the URL :() that hosted people's images. The notable thing was that you could search by equipment type to see real world sample images... Anyone remember this site? It would help me in choosing!